COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (March 6, 2012) -The U.S. Men’s Sitting Volleyball Team fell to Egypt 25-17, 25-18, 25-11 on Tuesday at the Intercontinental Cup (ICC) in Cairo, Egypt. Because Egypt has already qualified for the 2012 London Paralympics, the loss will not hurt the U.S. in the London qualification process.

Egypt, ranked third in the world, defeated the U.S., eighth in the world, in three sets moving the Americans to 2-2 in Pool A play and 2-1 in London qualification play.

Eric Duda (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Edmond, Okla.) led the U.S. with nine points followed by James Stuck Stuck (New Kensington, Pa./Edmond, Okla.) who charted eight.

Team USA will play Brazil, another Paralympic qualified team, on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. (EET) with the match only counting toward ICC standings. Thursday’s match (9:30 a.m. EET) will be the most important for the U.S. as must beat the winner of the contest between Germany and Ukraine to stay in the running for the last London bid.

Hugo Storer (Greensboro, N.C.) started the second set at right side for Swearingen. Swearingen substituted for Regan at middle in the second set and in the third set Stuck started at outside and Marinko started at right side opposite Swearingen and Storer was substituted for Marinko at right side.

The 14 teams will be competing in two separate tournaments during their play, one for Paralympic qualification and one for the Intercontinental Cup (ICC). Matches will only count for the London qualification if they are against non-qualified opponents. On the contrary, all matches leading up to the London qualification semis and finals, even those against Egypt, Iran and Brazil (which have already qualified for the Paralympics) will count toward the Intercontinental Cup standings. Each tournament will have its own set of winners and results.

The last time the U.S. Men’s Sitting Team qualified for the Paralympic Games was in 2004 when it defeated Brazil at the Parapan American Games in Argentina for a bid to the Athens Paralympics.

2012 U.S. Men's Sitting Team RosterName (Hometown/Resident athletes at the University of Central Oklahoma are noted)